The biggest book in the world

How big do you think the biggest book in the world is? What kind of book is this, and why would anyone want to make a very, very big book?

Well, the biggest book in the world is a 6 foot tall atlas which takes 6 men to lift. According to The Telegraph(UK) it was made by a Dutch merchant called Yohannes Klencke for the returning monarch in a bid to win favour with him in 1660.

This very, very big book (atlas) will be part of an exhibition in a British Library exhibition, called Magnificent Maps: Power, Propaganda and Art.

And, according to The Telegraph article, if you think that a map is just to help you get from A to B, you’d be wrong. As Tom Harper, a library map curator, says, maps were a form of bling.

For example, one of the maps on display is a Portuguese map of the world from 1623 which was made when the Portuguese empire was dwindling. The map shows the Portuguese crest reaching as far as Siberia to prove Portugal’s power. The map as propaganda.